VERMONT'S NEWSPAPER FOR LESBIANS AND GAY MEN

Volume III, Number 7

  

October 1 988_

VT. Gay Bashing on the Rise?

A few weeks ago I was sitting with a
group of friends upstairs at Pearl’s when
the subject turned to harassment and vio-
lence. I shared with this group of friends
thatl had become aware, over the course of
the last year or so, of an increased feeling of
anxiety when I would be walking around in
downtown Burlington. I felt thatl had to be
more “on guard.” Was this just my own
paranoia or was something changing?
Several of the friends that I was speaking
with shared sirnilare feelings and began to
relay incidents of harassment and violence
that they had either directly experienced or
heard about through the grapevine. As we
were sitting tallcin g, four different automo-
biles drove by and people in their cars
yelled taunts at people coming in or out the
the bar.

A few nights later a group of six young
men stood outside Pearls yelling anti-gay
slurs at people entering and leaving. Two of
them finally forced their way into the bar
and began attacking people. The police
were called and one of these young men
was issued a citation for property damage.
Later that evening the same group of young
men attacked a bar employee whom they
recognized on the street.

So what the hell is going on? In arecent
Survey by the National Gay and Lesbian
Task Force (NGLTF) it was reported that
9Ver 96% of gay men and 90% of lesbians
II} their random survey had reported being
victimized because of the sexual orienta-
tion._ Victimization included anything from
beamlg to threats of being spit at or chased.
Almost 35% of the men and 16% of the
Women reported having objects thrown at
them. Nearly 30% of the men and 10% of

e women had been hit, kicked or beaten.

These statistics are somewhat higher
l 11 those revealed by the Vermont survey
°°“dl1<_3ted by Vermonters for Lesbian and
GayR1ghts (VLGR) in early 1987. Eighty
Percent of respondents to this survey re-
P0Il£d having experienced some kind of
oarassment or violence due to their sexual

fltion. The survey further revealed the

following: 32% of respondents had been
chased or followed, 21% had had objects
thrown at them, 19% had had property
vandalized or destroyed by fire and 16%
had been punched, hit, kicked, or beaten.
Further, 81% had been called anti-lesbian/
gay names and 36% had been threatened by
physical violence. I know these statistics
are not new, but they tell a story that de-
serves retelling. Even the President’s
Commission on Hate Crimes concluded the
lesbians and gay men were the group most
likely to experience hate-motivated crime.
The question is; is an already intolerable
situation getting even worse? Nationally,
the answer is yes. NGLTF statistics reveal
that reports of harassment and violence
have increased nearly 250% in the past few

_ years. Are we just reporting more or are we

having more to report? Probably both.

So the question that emerges is “what
sould be done about this?” Jim Morgan of
the Vermont Human Rights Commission
recommended that people “write or call the
Attorney General’s office and ask for a

civil rights investigator to report incidents .

of harassment, violence or discrimination.”
He further recommended “that a written
copy of the complaint be sent to the Ver-
mont Coalition of Lesbian and Gay Men

(address on VT resources page).
Send written complaints to:

Attorney General’s Office
Pavilion Building
Montpelier, VT 05602
or call 828-3171.